Sam "Skyhigh" Jones
Sam “Skyhigh” Jones Sam “Skyhigh” Jones (April 13th, 1950 – April 20th, 1972) was pilot and bank robber extraordinaire. EARLY LIFE Sam was born in Santa Cruz, California on April 13th, 1950. His grandmother raised him since his parents had died while he was still an infant. His mom died when her plane crashed on a flight back from Jamaica. His dad on the other hand died in a gunfight when him and his gang tried to rob a bank. At a very young age Sam was forced to accept the life he was born into, even though he didn’t know it yet. When Sam became twelve he started to develop an unhealthy obsession with bank robbers and crime. To try and get him to focus on positive things his grandma got him enrolled in aeronautical piloting lessons. By the time he was 16 he was a fully licensed pilot with a fetish for crime. GROWN UP LIFE By the time Sam was 18 he had already held up several liquor stores and was getting ready to move on to bigger heists. His next target, the Santa Cruz County Bank, was a well-known and fairly large bank in his town. This was the perfect location for Sam to start his legendary career. At this time he was performing jobs with the help of his best friend from childhood, Cal Soy. Together there wasn’t a liquor store they couldn’t conquer. However, this was a completely new level of work for them, one they couldn’t afford to mess up. The first job went all right, Sam received a minor gunshot wound to his shoulder (the bullet just clipped him) and Cal was able to drive good enough to not get caught. However they were lucky and decided it was time to recruit a new member to their squad. For this Sam recruited the help of longtime friend, Brian Culver, who just so happened to be ex-military and an explosives expert. After nursing his shoulder back to health and recruiting the newest member, the gang was ready for their next task. This time a target a little bit bigger, the Northern California Securities Exchange. Unlike the first job, this one went exactly as planned with no one getting shot. After the success of their second job the gang felt untouchable, they went on a spree and robbed 20 different banks within the next 3 years. DEATH Unfortunately for the gang, their success ended up leading to their demise. After having such a long string of success with their other jobs, they felt it was time to do the “Big One.” The “Big One” is the heist that all criminals have planned yet never execute. It’s the one job that if done correctly would guarantee them a life of ease and no working. The location of this job: The Federal Reserve. On April 20th 1972, the anniversary of his father’s death, Sam and the rest of his crew embarked on their last job. Sam and Brian were gunned down inside reserve and Cal didn’t make it much farther. After their death there was an exponential increase in banks being robbed as other criminals everywhere were trying to pay homage to their fallen hero’s. Although you wont find Sam in your history books, He is a very important part of American history and should be remembered as the Legend he was.